St. Bernard Parish President Dave Peralta faces recall petition

St. Bernard Parish President Dave Peralta is facing a recall effort launched by Peter Rupp, whose wife Peralta fired soon after taking office. Rupp, who lost a runoff for a St. Bernard Parish Council seat by 16 votes last year, began the recall effort last week.

He would need to collect signatures from one-third of the parish's registered, active voters within the next six months for a recall election to be held. Rupp lists St. Bernard businessman Joseph "Anthony" Mendoza as the vice-chairman of the petition.

Peralta took office in January.

Rupp also filed suit against the parish on Sept. 20 alleging that a $32 monthly fire fee to support the parish fire department should be nullified as unconstitutional and its collection prohibited. That case still is pending.

Meg Casper, a spokesman for the Secretary of State's office, said the recall petition has been properly filed.

The Secretary of State's Office records show 25,968 registered voters. One-third, or 8,656 parish voters, would have to sign the petition by May 20, 2013. Then, the signatures would have to be validated by the parish registrar of voters.

Peter Rupp

Rupp said in a recent text message to a reporter that the petition would have no trouble attracting signers.

"This has been in the planning for quite a while," he wrote.

Rupp has criticized Peralta's firing of his wife and has questioned the parish's financial shortfalls. He often blames the parish's poor financial position and its subsequent layoffs on the Peralta administration.

Peralta and his administration in turn say the financial burdens largely are due to decreases in sales tax revenue. Peralta did not return a call for comment this week but previously has declined to comment on the recall petition.

Rupp's wife, Samantha, who worked as a legal secretary, was fired because she gave Rupp her access code to enter the government building, according to parish Chief Administration Office Jerry Graves and conversations with parish councilmen. Graves said she was fired "for cause, due to that security breach."

St. Bernard Parish has not had a recall election since at least 1966, the Secretary of State's office said.

The last attempt in St. Bernard was in 2009, when Paul Molinary and Bradley Cantrell, angry that they thought parish government was moving too fast to demolish homes damaged by Hurricane Katria, led a recall effort against then-St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro. Their recall petition fizzled.